The Transformers #50 - Generations - IDW Comic Book

Freedom is the right of all sentient beings. The freedom to be forcefully
inducted in to a council of other worlds you've never heard of before. The
freedom to have your society judged against the moral values an alien robot.
The freedom to live in fear of Transformers occupying your home. This is the
story of the day Optimus Prime took over the world. "All Hail Optimus", written
by John Barber, art by Andrew Griffith, colored by Josh Burcham (pages 1-15),
John-Paul Bove (pages 16-20), and Josh Perez (21-30); "New Worlds Order",
written by John Barber, pencils by Casey W Coller, inks by Jamie Snell, colored
by Joana Lafuente.

Soundwave, you might want to think about getting a public relations department or something to avoid confusion like this.

Optimus Prime has embarked down a dangerous path. After spending the last
four years (real world time. Possibly more than that within the fiction?)
basically aimless and unsure what to do with himself or where he fits in a
post-war world, he's been stirred to action by the Camiens. Having come to see
his title as Prime as a danger to the fledging society the Cybertronians are
trying to build now, he's been left hesitant to act at all with the likes of
Starscream accusing him of trying to assert the power of that title to sweep
away the civil authority that has taken hold on Cybertron. While this has been
a two way street and permitted Optimus to use the threat of that to help keep
Starscream in check, it has still left him with no direction in his life. Talks
with The Mistress of Flame, as well as Victorion and perhaps most meaningfully
with Aileron has all had an impact on him. Each in their own way they've
challenged him to act on his convictions - the convictions of a Prime. They've
all validated him, perhaps leading him to think his self doubt was, if not
mistaken, at least misplaced. And so we find ourselves here, where Optimus has
essentially declared he's taking over the world. Optimus himself says in his
address that his purpose isn't to rule, but he also makes very clear that he
has problems with bodies of authority on Earth and he plans to assist the world
to righting the mistakes he sees. For the sake of freedom.

This is an act that not very long ago, Optimus would never have even really
considered. His own moral sense would have stopped him from going this far,
because he would know what it would lead to. So, what are we seeing? The
Camiens viewing him as a religious figure, something that made him
uncomfortable to start with, seems to have slowly worn away at him. While he
may not see himself in that context, the effect of others treating him that way
can still take hold. Between that, and repeated expressions of not
understanding why he isn't acting as an authority among his people according to
his title, it's started shifting his thinking. Aileron and Victorion have
become his enablers. He's started acting on his own judgment more and appears
to be pushing to the side whatever doubts he may have about going this far. He
believes this is in the best interests of Earth's people, so it must be
correct, right? He has the Matrix, he has the title, he has the authority they
grant. So his choices must be right.

The victory in this story is I think that we the readers are supposed to see
and get all of this. We're supposed to understand how wrong this action is and
how Optimus is right at the edge of slipping down the slope of making the
mistakes all the Primes before him. He's starting with the best of intentions,
but if he's not turned away quickly, he'll end up like any of his predecessors
where supposedly acting in the interests of the society turns in to subjugation
and tyranny. He's about to finally become a Prime, in keeping with the lineage
that Nova began. At this point a corner has been turned, and even if Optimus
relents quickly and this idea of Earth becoming part of the council of
Cybertronain colony worlds goes away, there should still be long lasting and on
going consequences just based on the fact that Optimus tried this in the first
place. This issue opens the door to a great deal of potential character
development and exploration for Optimus. I've seen already someone note based
on the preview that this act is out of character for Optimus Prime. And for a
"traditional" Optimus Prime, I completely agree. But IDW's Optimus isn't that
standard model. Where we are right now is an almost unsettlingly natural
development out of what the character has gone through these past few years.
All this time Optimus in the modern era has been a terribly ineffective
character, making stories involving him not especially interesting.

For the first time in years, I'm legitimately interested in the development
of a story built around Optimus Prime. There is a fantastic depth of potential
not just for this story, but for any stories after that build off of this. His
place in the universe has changed in a way that should be expected to be
permanent, no matter how this specific storyline winds up shaking out. All it
really required to get compelling and interesting was full acceptance of
today's Optimus Prime making bad decisions and running with it to the greatest
extreme reasonably possible. We're at the beginning of what very reasonably
could end up as The Fall of Optimus Prime, and I think it's the best use of the
character in years. Not to mention the great symmetry it provides with Autobot
Megatron. Just wait until the next time those two catch up.

So, with that wall-of-text look at the motivations of Optimus Prime out of
the way, let's have a rather more brief paragraph about the art. Griffith
brings his standard best with this issue, which considering the level of action
and complex scenes to depict is surely no small feat! The main 30-page story
that Griffith draws is taken up predominantly by an extended battle which is
depicted excellently. The framing and layouts make all the action very easy to
read, the most important priority for such a situation, of course. And in the
course of the battle which gets a little more involved than just Optimus and
Galvatron's respective parties fighting each other, Griffith also brings in
more original designs that - while perhaps inspired by existing toys - don't
and probably will never gets toys made and that's really disappointing.
Griffith has a talent for coming up with new, unique stuff and making it work
mechanically to the point that I really want it in physical representations.
The main story splits the color work three ways. And to the credit of Burcham
and Bove, they match style to the series quite effectively where, even having
the cheat sheet in the credits, I don't immediately register the change from
one to the next while reading the issue. Burcham's pages, which there are the
most of are probably the most recognizable since there is still an element of
his slightly flatter style and preference for less saturated colors. Despite
likely trying to blend with the normal appearance, there are a few places where
these elements still stand out. I don't know if it's by coincidence, but the
split of the colorists is helped by each changeover coming with a change to the
environment. By the time Bove's pages start, night is falling on the battle
site. Thus, differences in style fade away to reasonable shifts in lighting
conditions. When Perez starts finishing out the final stretch of pages, it's
again a different time of day and different setting so it still doesn't make
for a jarring shift and so the edges between the three get smoothed out very
nicely.

The back up story, which is more an epilogue, combines Casey Coller's lines
with Joana Lafuente's colors. Between those two it stands out visually from the
rest of the book considerably. It's not in any way that's bad, it's simply very
distinct from Griffith's style, and the overall look of the first 30 pages.
This only really becomes a problem when the human characters are involved and,
for instance, Marissa comes out looking like she's about 15. But then you
contrast that with panels here and there that look simply amazing between the
precision and detail of the lines and the way the colors accentuate it all. If
anything, the failing I'd point to in this is just that it doesn't feel
internally consistent with itself.

This issue has a glut of covers, which I don't think is inappropriate for a
milestone issue. But there's just two I want to talk about specifically. The
main cover by Andrew Griffith and Thomas Deer is a good representation of
actual imagery within the issue, though of course not precisely a lift of any
single scene. It's good art and coloring, and is probably adequately eye
catching. But it's just not the best representation of the ideas of this issue.
For that, we go to Subscription cover C, by Casey Coller and John-Paul Bove.
This is the image that I have always felt sums up the concept most fully,
showing Optimus Prime holding the Earth in his hand... as the southern
hemisphere crumbles away under his grip because he's holding on to Earth a bit
too tightly. No single image could better sum up how I look at this story, and
when All Hail Optimus is collected together, it'll be a crime if this is not
used as the cover for the trade.

We've still got a bit to wait for the other half of IDW's Transformers 50th
issue celebration with the last minute delay of More Than Meets The
Eye, but we'll be back soon to wrap this up and start on the way to the
next milestone. Congratulations for keeping a steady numbering long enough on
these series to make it to 50, IDW!